Massachusetts Legislator Rants Against Jessica's Law

State Representative wants to make child rape victims cry.

Massachusetts state representative James Fagan generated public outrage with his recent comments. Fagan vowed to mercilessly cross examine child rape victims if the state legislature were to pass rigid mandatory sentences for child rape. Fagan opposes Jessica’s law, which would require a twenty year sentence for the rape of a child under the age of twelve. If faced with such legislature, Fagan claims that he would be forced to verbally attack a child victim on the stand in order to defend a client.

During the floor debate he said:

“Let me tell you why it’s so wrong, It’s so wrong because in these situations . . . that 6-year-old is going to sit in front of me, or somebody far worse than me and I’m going to rip them apart. I’m going to make sure that the rest of their life is ruined”

He added that, “When they’re 8 years old they throw up; when they’re 12 years old, they won’t sleep. When they’re 19 years old they’ll have nightmares and they’ll never have a relationship with anybody.”